This book focuses on natural disasters: how the normal processes of the Earth concentrate their energies and deal heavy blows to humans and their structures. It is concerned with how the natural world operates and, in so doing, kills and maims humans and destroys their works. Throughout the book, certain themes are maintained: * energy sources underlying disasters * plate tectonics and climate change * earth processes operating in rock, water, and atmosphere * significance of geologic time * complexities of multiple variables operating simultaneously * detailed and readable case studies.